GWADAR: The Sons of Sindbad

One of the last remaining foreign-flag
enclaves on the continent of Asia*was erased last week. In the first
international cash-for-territory deal since the U.S. paid $25 million
for Denmark's Virgin Islands in 1917, the republic of Pakistan
purchased the sun-blanched, 300-sq.-mi. peninsula of Gwadar (pop. 20,000) from
the Sultan of Muscat and Oman. Price: $8,400,000 cash and a percentage
of any oil ever found on Gwadar's rainless shores.

Gwadar, which in the Baluchi language means Gateway of Winds, has been a
haven for Arab seamen since the fabled Sindbad the Sailor cruised its
coasts. The place passed into the hands...